NOTES for Joh 1:18-28
18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. |
19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? |
20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. |
21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. |
22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? |
23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. |
24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. |
25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? |
26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; |
27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. |
28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. |
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In John's Gospel, very little is said about the ministry of John the Baptist. This is especially strange if we remember that its author is a man who, before following Jesus, was for some time a disciple of John the Baptist. On the other hand, perhaps for this very reason the evangelist did not consider it necessary to say much about John's personality: it was evidently well known not only to him, but also to those closest to him, so there was no need to write much about John the Baptist. What had to be brought out was the main thing in his ministry, and the main thing was how John the Baptist himself defined the meaning of his ministry, expressing it in Isaiah's words: to prepare the way of Yahweh. By this the prophet meant that his task was to prepare the people for the Messiah's coming. And to prepare for His coming meant, as John the Baptist himself testified, to wash and be cleansed from sin.
Of course, in the prophet's calls one can see something reminiscent of the many brotherhoods of those whom historians of religion call "hemerobaptists," "constant bathers." Such were the Essenes too, who practiced regular purifying washings. If in traditional Jewish practice washing was always connected with cleansing from a specific sin committed by a person, the Essenes (including the Qumranites, with whom John was evidently connected in his younger years) did this regularly, believing that life itself defiles a person.
But in this case the resemblance was only external: unlike the "constant bathers," John did not think that cleansing was an endless process. He was only convinced that a person could be cleansed completely only when the power of God fully transformed his nature. And he was also convinced that the coming Messiah would be able to do this. The prophet evidently saw his own task as reminding people that religiousness alone is not enough, and that a person who, according to traditional ideas, is considered clean and fully sound is not so in God's eyes. Therefore one must be ready to take the next step on the path of resisting one's own sinful nature. A step that opens the way into the Kingdom.
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Readings for 13 April 2026
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